Guitar > Bend Techniques > Unison Bends

Unison bends are a bit harder to pull off than normal bends if you do not have experience with them. They involve playing two strings and bending one of them to match the pitch of the other one. Generally, the lower string is bent to match the pitch of the high string. Unison bends typically occur on the 1st and 2nd strings (E and B) or the 4th and 5th strings (G and B). The effect of a unison bend is that it sounds like two guitars are playing a single note in unison. You hear them in everything from rock to blues. The trick with a unison bend is getting enough of a bend to match the two notes. Try not to inadvertantly touch other string when you're bending the lower string.

Check out these 10 progressive exercises to improve your unison-bending technique. Make sure that you're bending the notes to the appropriate tones and try to use exact intontation. If you cannot execute a bend because your fingers aren't strong enough or your string won't support it, don't sweat it. Just bend as far as you're comfortable. You'll eventually want to strive for perfection.